The Mark 2010

If the legislation can be enacted quickly and decisively, The Green Energy Act promises to make Ontario an environmental model for the world.

It’s an exciting time for those of us in Ontario who have an environmental bent, as the Green Energy Act endeavours to do no less than transform the province’s electricity generation system into one of the cleanest and greenest energy supply mixes in the world. The Act, which goes into third reading on May 30 and is on track to pass in June, is indeed a very ambitious piece of legislation and has the potential to do great things for this province. As a VP and co-founder of a renewable energy company, I’ve had a front-row seat to all of this and have been impressed by the sincerity of the bill’s backers in their desire to make Ontario an environmental leader.

But I’ve also had my share of concerns, which I’ve brought to MPPs directly through the parliamentary subcommittee, and through a presentation to Ontario government staff, which need serious consideration. The first of these concerns is that we, the people of Ontario and our distinguished representatives, are experts at "study, debate, repeat," to paraphrase a shampoo bottle. Democracy is founded on the principle of healthy, open debate; this is not the issue, but it seems we often come up with very sensible ideas that result only in expensive studies that sit on shelves (see: high-speed rail corridor). The Green Energy Act, to make a real difference, depends entirely on the new and revised regulations that result from this new legislative framework; it is this next phase that will decide if the Act is a success or not. We in Ontario will have to remain vigilant that these regulations come into effect expeditiously and in a way that does not water down the ambition of the Act.

My second concern is what happens if we do not act with due speed to make the Green Energy Act real. The Act paints a picture of Ontario as an attractive jurisdiction for green collar jobs, particularly renewable energy developers and manufacturers of renewable energy equipment. The goal is 50,000 jobs, which is ambitious; Denmark, one of the greenest countries in the world and a pioneer in renewable energy, is home to that same number of green collar jobs. What I find conspicuously absent from this discussion is how we will win these jobs over, say, Michigan, which is one of several states launching its own green jobs initiative, and which has an automotive workforce like Ontario’s that is well-suited to wind turbine manufacturing. Add to this that Obama’s stimulus proposal for green energy totals $112 billion (US) (or $369 per capita) while Canada limps in at $2.6 billion (US) (or $78 per capita), and it’s easy to see how the scales can tip.

My field of renewable energy development, biogas, sends me across North America. I’ve met with government officials, economic development officers and the like in numerous states and have been largely heartened by their interest in our industry, and also their recognition that Ontario is a place to look to for precedent. Indeed, many of the states are looking to Ontario’s Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program, which was North America’s first European-style tariff program for renewable energy, as a model for their own proposed feed-in tariffs. This is a good thing; if we are being followed by other jurisdictions, that means we are a leader. The troublesome part comes when we are leapfrogged; the development process in one mid-west state has taken half as much time and money to develop a biogas plant twice the size of what we’re building in Ontario, and regulators in that state are amending regulations to account for this new industry faster than we are here.

This is a strange time in our history. The economy is in the tank, while a major transformation towards ecologically-conscious industry is taking place. With little room for error therefore, green investment dollars and their attendant green collar jobs will materialize only in the jurisdictions with the most optimal circumstances: competitive economic support, a population and regulations that prioritize renewable energy, and strong leadership. Ontario has the chance to make something big of this, but we’ll have to act quickly and decisively, and recognize we’re not alone in these aspirations.